Bank of New York Mellon Corp Increases Stock Holdings in W.P. Carey Inc. $WPC

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,316,295 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 161,405 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in W.P. Carey were worth $149,077,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of W.P. Carey by 9.1% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 842,106 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $56,901,000 after buying an additional 70,572 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of W.P. Carey by 10.8% in the third quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 372,212 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $25,150,000 after buying an additional 36,205 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of W.P. Carey by 372.8% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 46,644 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,002,000 after buying an additional 36,779 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of W.P. Carey by 1.6% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,171,690 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $214,315,000 after buying an additional 49,992 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pensionfund PDN purchased a new stake in shares of W.P. Carey in the fourth quarter worth about $2,851,000. 73.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other W.P. Carey news, CAO Brian H. Zander sold 433 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $32,042.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 13,882 shares in the company, valued at $1,027,268. This trade represents a 3.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

W.P. Carey Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of WPC opened at $74.50 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $72.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.08. The company has a market capitalization of $16.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.84, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.35. W.P. Carey Inc. has a 1-year low of $61.09 and a 1-year high of $75.69.

W.P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.69. W.P. Carey had a net margin of 29.35% and a return on equity of 6.29%. The business had revenue of $454.51 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $430.64 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.17 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. W.P. Carey has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.160-5.260 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that W.P. Carey Inc. will post 5.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.P. Carey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 31st. This is an increase from W.P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.0%. W.P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 158.97%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of W.P. Carey from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of W.P. Carey from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of W.P. Carey from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of W.P. Carey from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of W.P. Carey from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, W.P. Carey currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.00.

About W.P. Carey

W. P. Carey Inc is a diversified net-lease real estate investment trust specializing in single-tenant commercial properties. The company structures sale-leaseback and build-to-suit transactions to provide long-term net lease financing across a variety of asset classes, including industrial facilities, office buildings, retail centers and self-storage facilities. By employing triple net leases, W. P. Carey transfers property operating expenses, taxes and maintenance responsibility to tenants, creating a stable, predictable income stream for investors.

Founded in 1973 by William Polk Carey, the firm has expanded organically and through strategic mergers and acquisitions.